Telecommunications in New Zealand

Communications in New Zealand are fairly typical for an industrialised nation.

Telephones

• Country calling code: 64
  • The same code is also used to reach Scott Base in Antarctica and the United States base McMurdo Station nearby.
• Mobile phone system:
  • Number of mobile connections: 4.7 million (2010)
  • Coverage available to approx 97% of the population.
  • Operators:
    • 2degrees (operating GSM, UMTS and LTE)
    • Spark New Zealand (operating UMTS, HSDPA and LTE)
      • MVNO: Skinny (owned by Spark NZ), Digital Island [1], CallPlus/Slingshot,
      >
    • Vodafone New Zealand (operating GSM, UMTS HSDPA and LTE).
      • MVNO:Compass [2], Black+White [3], Orcon, M2
• Fixed-line telephone system:
  • Number of fixed line connections: 1.92 million (2000)
  • Individual lines available to 99% of residences.
  • Operators:
    • Spark New Zealand
    • Orcon
    • Vodafone New Zealand (acquired ihug in 2006 and TelstraClear in 2012).
• Cable and microwave links:
  • Domestic:
    • optical fibre and microwave links between cities
    • submarine optical fibre cables between North Island and South Island.
  • International:
    • Submarine cables:
      • Southern Cross Cable (to Australia and Hawaii)
      • TASMAN 2 (Australia-New Zealand)
      • PacRimEast or Pacific Rim East (New Zealand-Hawaii)
    • Satellite earth stations: 2 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)

Radio

• Radio broadcast stations: AM 124, FM 290, shortwave 4 (1998), 4 on Freeview digital satellite.
  • See also: List of radio stations in New Zealand
• Radios: 3.75 million (1997)

Television

• Television broadcast stations: 41 (plus 52 medium-power repeaters and over 650 low-power repeaters) (1997)
  • These transmit 4 nationwide free-to-air networks and a few regional or local single transmitter stations. Analogue to be phased out by end of 2013.
  • Digital Satellite pay TV is also available and carries most terrestrial networks.
  • Freeview digital free satellite with a dozen SD channels, with SD feeds of the terrestrial HD freeview channels.
  • Freeview, free-to-air digital terrestrial HD and SD content.
  • Cable TV is available in some urban areas with Vodafone's broadband services.
  • See also: List of New Zealand television channels
• Televisions: 1.926 million (1997)

Internet

• Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 36 (2000)
• Internet users: 2.11 million (2002)
• Country code (Top level domain): .nz

Telecommunications Development Levy

The government charges a $50 million Telecommunications Development Levy annually to fund improvements to communications infrastructure such as the Rural Broadband Initiative. It is payable by telecommunications firms with an operating revenue of over $10 million, in proportion to their qualified revenue.

See also

• Economy of New Zealand

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2003 edition".